Football team rallies around rival school’s quarterback after season-ending injury

Tab Creekmore went through his sixth surgery in the past week and a half on Monday.

On Oct. 26, on the first play of Mulvane High School’s opening-round playoff loss to Arkansas City, Creekmore, the Wildcats’ sophomore quarterback, pulled a zone read. When he was tackled, he broke his tibia and fibula.

He had never broken a bone before. It felt more like an electric shock through his leg than pain, so he tried to get up. But then he looked at one of his teammates.

The entire Wellington football team signed a poster with the simple message: “Get well soon — love, your Crusader football team.”

“It hit me,” he said. “It hit me really hard. It was awesome.”

Ledbetter met with Creekmore and his family for about 15 minutes, a small greeting that was a few days in the making. After Ledbetter learned about Creekmore’s injury, he got his phone number and started texting him.

Ledbetter said the walls of the rivalry soon broke down.

“He seemed like a really cool guy, and I just didn’t want Wellington-Mulvane to get in the way,” he said. “I wanted Tab to feel like a true friend.”